Ingredients
Lamb backstrap (sirloin)
½ bunch continental parsley
½ bunch mint
¼ cup pine nuts
1 small to medium zucchini
2 small Lebanese eggplants
½ medium red capsicum
2 pieces preserved lemon
ras el hanout spice blend
harissa paste
Lemon juice
Olive oil
Tahini paste
Natural yogurt
Instant cous cous
Method
Into the mixing bowl put 1 tblsp ras el hanout,1 tablsp olive oil and 1 tblsp lemon juice. Marinate the lamb in this whilst you get everything else ready.
Pick the leaves off the mint and the parsley (this is the tedious bit which is good to give a guest to do if you are serving this for a dinner party and want to involve them!).
Now gently toast your pine nuts on the griddle pan. Remove and put to the side.
Slice the zucchini and eggplant on the diagonal and slice the capsicum into similar size pieces. Cook these on the griddle pan over a high heat turning only once so you get the cool looking grill lines. Once done also remove and put to the side.
Place ½ cup of cous cous into the saucepan and top with ½ cup of boiling water. Place lid on saucepan and leave for five minutes. Whilst waiting for it to cook. Remove the rind from the preserved lemons and slice the rind finely.
Cous cous should be done now so grab a fork and separate all the grains. Spread the cous cous on a large flat platter.
Time to cook the lamb now,so heat the grill pan one more time and put the backstrap on. As it sizzles you can pull the salad together.
On top of the cous cous spread the mixed parsley and mint. Layer the grilled vegies over this and scatter them with the preserved lemon.
Lamb should be done now – it will only take 3 minutes each side. Lamb should always be medium rare. Remove it from the heat and let rest.
Last thing to do is mix ½ cup of natural yogurt with 1 tblsp of tahini and a good squeeze of lemon juice.
Slice your lamb and arrange on top of the salad. Decorate with small blobs of harissa paste and scattered pine nuts and you are set to go.
Serve with the yogurt/tahini sauce on the side. It’s a great idea to give everyone their own little tongs to serve the salad if you are feeding a crowd. The above will serve 2-3 depending on how hungry people are.
Best wine for Moroccan flavours like these is either a Mouverdre or a Grenache. They can both handle the spices.
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